Key moments
The official count offered by the Electoral Service points to a resounding victory for the leftist candidate Gabriel Boric. With 50% of the votes counted, the politician who bets on a break with the past prevails against the far-right José Antonio Kast, supporter of the return to the status quo prior to the 2019 protests, with a wide margin: 54.7% versus 45.2%. The polls have closed in Chile at 6:00 p.m. local time after the second round of the elections that will define the name of the new president. Boric started as a favorite, according to the latest polls, in the fight against Kast, winner of the first round by the minimum. Since the November 21 election, both candidates have moderated their speeches in an effort to win the center’s vote, refractory to the polarization that marked much of the campaign.
Boric, political heir to the October 2019 revolts, proposes to strengthen the role of the State in the economy, a tax increase to finance social spending and the end of the private pension system inherited from the dictatorship. Kast is a liberal who promises less state and greater participation of the private sector in the provision of public services. Ultra-conservative in the social sphere, he is a candidate who did not completely break his ideological ties with the Pinochet regime.
The two candidates for La Moneda voted early this Sunday. Boric was convinced of his victory, while Kast bet that it will be a “narrow election” with a margin of difference “below 50,000 votes.” The day is being marked by reports of delays in public transport and a shortage of buses to transport voters, especially in Santiago de Chile. From the left they have come to accuse Sebastián Piñera’s government of a “boycott”, but his team assures that there are the same number of buses in circulation as on any weekday.
Follow the minute by minute of the election of this Sunday, December 19 by EL PAÍS:
The celebrations for Boric begin:
Boric supporters honk their car horns in different neighborhoods of Santiago and other cities in the country.
The far-right candidate José Antonio Kast acknowledges defeat. The politician has just congratulated Gabriel Boric, who with 50% of the votes counted is preferred as the winner with a wide margin. “I have congratulated him on his great triumph. From today he is the elected president of Chile and deserves all our respect and constructive collaboration,” Kast commented on Twitter.
Gabriel Boric extends his advantage with 50% of the votes counted
With 50% of the votes counted, the leftist politician prevails against the extreme right José Antonio Kast with a wide margin: 54.7% compared to 45.2%.
Gabriel Boric is emerging as the winner in Chile with 29.94% scrutinized
The official count offered by the Electoral Service points to a resounding victory for the leftist candidate Gabriel Boric. With 29.94% of the votes counted, the politician who bets on a break with the past prevails against the far-right José Antonio Kast, in favor of the return to the status quo prior to the 2019 protests, with a wide margin: 54 , 1% versus 45.8%.
With 6,188 counted tables out of a total of 46,887, corresponding to 13.19%, of the total voting (Chile and abroad).
BORIC 53.39%
KAST 46.61%
When the scrutiny approaches 240,000 minutes, the advantage of Grabriel Boric It is shortened, although the leftist candidate would easily win with 53.4% against the far-right José Antonio Kast. The data, however, at the moment barely collect the ballots of 3.6% of the tables.
Total voting from Chile and abroad, with 3.67% counted, which is not yet representative.
53.44% for Boric and 46.56% for Kast, reports the Electoral Service with its results online.
Counting begins
The counting of this second presidential round has begun. The very first data, with less than 40,000 ballots counted, give Gabriel Boric 64.5% of the votes compared to 35.4% for José Antonio Kast. In approximately 45 minutes, the Electoral Service will announce the first cut, which may also be the first significant reflection of the trend.
Half an hour after the polls close, the Electoral Service (Servel) publishes the first national result with only 0.64% scrutinized. This includes the foreign vote where Gabriel Boric performed better than José Antonio Kast. Traditionally the left fares better than the right outside the country.
The activity begins at the command of José Antonio Kast, in the municipality of Las Condes, with the interventions of two of the women who have had the greatest role in this second round campaign: Evelyn Matthei and Paula Daza.
Election day, in pictures
Fifteen million citizens summoned to the polls to decide the future of Chile between two antagonistic models. This has been the voting day under an unprecedented polarization between those who want to change the system and those who resist change and seek to return to the situation prior to the social outbreak of 2019.
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